well I went in to pick a route today. Of 28 drivers I was number 28 on seniority. Fortunately there were 29 routes so I got to choose between two that I didn’t like. Actually they are not that bad and leave me with Fridays off. The only thing I really don’t like about it is that it is a three times a day route, morning noon and afternoon. I have a monitor on the bus to take care of the kids (which are all little kids) so I wont have to deal with any problematic ones. The monitor also just started this year so she won’t be a know it all trying to tell me how to do my job (then again a little experience on the part of my crew might have been a good thing). I hope things work out the rest of the way. I am not sure I will like this and I may start looking elsewhere very soon if the trainer position does not come to pass in prompt manner.

Today I got up at 5 and went to Berrien Springs. From there I drove a bus up to Kalamazoo and then down into Schoolcraft. I then took my driving test for my class B CDL with S & P endoresments. Being that I had only 3 1/2 hours sleep I made a few silly mistakes on my pre-trip inspection (like forgetting to honk the horn to test if it works) but I did quite well on the actual driving portion and was certified to drive. Tomorrow I bid on a bus route and then later I will start my trainer training. I went home a took a short nap but I am still VERY tired.

Today I completed my training. 20 hours classroom and 20 hours driving. I then did my one hour eval and the tester didn’t pay very strict attention because I was doing so well. Monday I go up at 6 AM to head to Kalamazoo in order to take my state test. I already passed all the written tests for the state so all I have to do now is the driven test and I will have my CDL class B with P and S endorsements. Ah so that means no more training right? Well, no. Once I am done being a trainee, then I start MORE training! Trainer training. So that I can be qualified as a trainer to train all the other people.

That blog title alone will probably get me 50 hits from google searches, but the real thing I am writing about is that I have been using the Linux operating system and the Firefox web browser at my local library (a pilot program they are running to see if they can save some money and still please their patrons) So far I am liking it. I can’t tell too much difference from the Microsoft programs that I am so used to except that it doesn’t freeze up, crash or run cruddy. It also has open office on it which I have not had a chance to try yet but I probably soon will.

Right now my kids are riveted to the television watching sport after sport compete in the Olympics in china. I told them that I would have been there but for a few little problems. Here are the reasons, caught on video of why I am not an Olympic athlete. why_i_didn_t_make_the_olympics.wmv

Did you ever get yourself into a financial bind? Did you ever end up owing a lot of money? Maybe it was your fault like you just got into a situation where you were spending way too much money for what you had coming in. Or, like many of my friends, you got that credit card thing going and just didn’t know how to stop. Or maybe you were completely innocent in it. Perhaps you were just going along fine and all of a sudden your source of income was taken away and you still had lots of bills to pay. Sooner than you expected the bills were late and the debt grew. You ended up with a lot of debt and no answer as to how to get rid of it? I did that once. I was in the army and I got spending money faster than it was coming in. My friends and I started having big weekends and I was blowing hundreds of dollars on the weekends and before I knew it, I was pawning my television to make it to the end of the month when I would get paid. That is the absolute wrong thing to do. The answer was to get my spending habits in line with my income. It was a hard lesson learned but eventually I got it under control (it also helped that when I turned 21 I inherited some money that helped me get back on top of things). But I still had to learn to live within my means, and a lot of people have trouble with that concept. They actually LIVE on debt. This doesn’t make much sense to me and I hope that it doesn’t make much sense to you either. If you really need to get that spending under control, one thing you might consider doing is visiting BillsIQ and seeing just how smart you are about your spending and your bills.